So You Want to Sell Comic Books

When I was a kid I dreamed that one day I would have my very own store and that I would sell comic books to the local children. Comic books were so much a part of my life growing up and it was the same for my son as he was growing. When I was a kid it was Spiderman and The Fantastic Four, or any of the other Marvel titles. My son however loved Superman and he collected all the great Superman titles of the mid to late 1980s when Superman had a resurgence of popularity. I also saw this phenomenon repeated when my brother (twelve years younger) started collecting X-Men comics when he was growing up. I remember the great story lines from those X-Men and the incredible art by Gene Adams and others.

Comic books in the United States really began with the superheroes of the 1930s like Superman and then Batman (Robin came later). There was Captain Marvel and Captain America and his sidekick Bucky. If you are really interested in the history of comics you should immediately go to the library and take out a book called The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. This is one of the great books of our era and takes place during the beginning of Americas involvement in World War II. This amazing book tells the story of two cousins who invent a comic book hero called The Escapist in New York City. The book won a Pulitzer Prize by the way.

During the war many comic book stories revolved around superheroes defeating Nazis and this caused huge sales to the war frenzied youngsters of the time. Many comic book publishers became very rich and comics became a part of Americana. After the war however sales shrank until by the end of the fifties comics were just about dead. Then came a man named Stan Lee and he realized that in order to sell comic books you needed a new type of superhero, one that had human frailties and weaknesses as well as super powers. Americas young men needed a superhero that they could relate to and Stan Lee created Spiderman and comic books were never quite the same again.

Today if you want to sell comic books the best way is to put them up on Ebay. Before you do that you need to get your comics certified. There are companies out there that will slab your comics which mean that they will grade the book and then encase it in plastic with a seal on it that ensures or certifies authenticity and value. This is a costly and controversial procedure that is only really necessary with rare or valuable comics. If the comic is not worth at least $50 you should not get them certified because the process costs that much usually. If you put any valuable comic books for sale on Ebay you will probably need to get them slabbed since collectors dont usually bid on uncertified comic books.